Internet Marketing, Google Updates, Product Launches & More

WOW… 2011 just shot by didn’t it?

A lot went on in 2011…

I learnt new skills, had new successes and accomplished things I never thought possible. It was a great year and I had a lot of fun.

Since it’s a brand new year, I thought I’d share some of the things I got up to in 2011 and what’s happening in 2012.

First, Internet Marketing got a little crazy in 2011. There were thousands of product launches, lots of Google panda updates and countless new marketing strategies that appeared out of nowhere.

Overall it was a pretty good year. I accomplished many of my goals, met deadlines and failed others. But we’re all human right?

Here’s what I did in 2011:

1. Mastered Search Engine Optimization

In late 2010 I decided to master SEO and I accomplished that goal in mid 2011. I figured if I could get op search engine rankings, I would never go hungry. So that happened and it’s been great fun mastering a new skill. Learning SEO has opened new doors and led to countless new opportunities. Product ideas, offline clients and many JV deals.

2. Built Niche Sites

With my expert SEO knowledge I devised a genius plan…

A plan to build hundreds of popular niche websites and make a fortune in the process. I actually started building niche sites in 2010, but really started doing it as a business in 2011. I ended up building 5 new sites per week in a wide range of niches. I had all the numbers right, I projected a good $40,000 in yearly Adsense revenue per 100 websites.

So it would take me 20 weeks to build a $40,000/year niche site business – not bad considering I didn’t need to do any work. After around 4 months I was hitting $80-$120/day with an average of $90 which was beyond my estimation. Anyway, the plan worked well and it continued to work for a few more months.

UNTIL… The Google Panda 2.5.2 update hit. It was October, around about the 14th… Google released a new update which completely blew my sites away. The update was supposed to get rid of low quality sites.

Ahh… PROBLEM

The sites I was building weren’t exactly high quality. I’m all for quality but it’s all about ROI. If I wanted high quality sites… I’d need to hire a good writer and spend at least 5 times as much. That’s why the business model worked so well, I could spend $2 on website content that worked! So that happened…

3. Clients

In 2011 I took on several clients. All I can say is “I hate clients”. When you have a skill that’s in demand, charging people for your skill is like taking candy from a baby. Just because I make regular posts on forums about SEO – people contact me. They contact me asking if I can handle their site’s SEO in return for a monthly pay check.

Usually I’ll charge $300-$500/month to handle the SEO of a small website. It sounds like the easiest money in the world and it really is. I get results for my clients and they happily pay me. However, I fucking despise client work. So bit of advice; if you’re going to take on clients make sure you have a system in place to handle everything automatically.

If you’re charging clients $500/month for SEO – pay someone else $300/month to do the work. DO NOT and I repeat DO NOT do the work yourself. So clients are great, but only if you have a system in place to handle everything.

4. Conquered Riches

One of things I really wanted to do in 2011 was establish an Internet Marketing blog. So about 5 months ago Conquered Riches was born. To be very honest I don’t have time to write for Conquered Riches on a daily basis and handle all of the promotion. And… unlike my other business models hiring someone to write for/promote the blog isn’t feasible. Why the heck not?

Well because blogging like this isn’t profitable in the beginning. When you’re building Adsense sites you know exactly how much money you’re going to make per 1000 visitors. You also have a pretty good idea of how much it’s going to cost you to get those visitors. You just have to work out how much you need to spend for keyword research, site creation, site content and search engine optimization.

When you know those expenses and how much you’re going to make per 1000 or so visitors; you can create a system. A system that’s sustainable and profitable. A system where you know exactly how long it will take you to reach profits. With a blog like this, it’s not the same. In the beginning you need to write good content, build a community, generate lots of traffic and sell products.

Once you’re getting a decent amount of traffic you can sell affiliate products and eventually launch your own. BUT – you can’t really calculate how long it’s going to take. Especially with a blog like this,  a blog that’s so broad and covers a wide range of subjects. So why the heck am I blogging here? For one, to build an asset. A blog like this is a true asset.

You can see the hard work that’s gone into it and over time its value grows. If you keep blogging and have a solid promotional system in place – the traffic will grow. As the traffic grows so will the email list and the readership. At which point you can use the blog as a platform. A platform to launch, review and promote products or services.

5. New Company And Product Launches

Now this was the highlight of 2011 and it’s what has me so excited for 2012. I found a business partner and together we “gave birth” to a new company; Web Brand Media. Essentially what we’re doing is starting an Internet Marketing Agency. Offering just about every Internet Marketing related service possible. While at the same time, creating, launching and marketing a variety of different products…

Both off and online, physical and digital. The only thing I am pissed off about is not having launched our first public product; List Building Intervention. But that’s ok…

The course will be launched soon as a Warrior Forum Special Offer and will then be sold privately. Me and Jason (my partner) worked hard at the course combining all of our list building knowledge into a simple, easy to use guide. So that’s just one of the many info products we have planned for 2012.

Lastly, we’ve had a WordPress plugin developed. I’m not going to reveal exactly what the plugin does, as I’ll probably write a post about it. Although I can say it’s an automated social media/link building plugin that can boost traffic and search engine rankings. Seriously though – the plugin is bad ass and the results we’ve been getting have been incredible.

Now that just about rounds up the major Internet Marketing stuff I got up to in 2011.

Next year I have a few very simple goals:

1. Accept Clients For Web Brand Media
2. Launch 8 WSO’s
3. Launch 1 Clickbank Product
4. Re-build Niche Websites
5. Grow Conquered Riches – Accept Writers, Start Guest Blogging & Build Community + Redesign + Forum.
6. Start 2 Large Websites
7. Work Less
8. Get Office

P.S. Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments section below. What are your goals in 2012?

Last updated by Jamie.

Tagged as: google updates, internet marketing, internet marketing 2012, product launches

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About Jamie
I'm a teenage entrepreneur who's been marketing online since the age of 12. I love anything to do with business, marketing, psychology and traffic generation. I'm a blogger, copywriter, author, consultant, perpetual product launcher and proud owner of Conquered Riches. Add me on Google Plus here.

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